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The Indian Ocean gyre is composed of two major currents: the South Equatorial Current, and the West Australian Current. Normally moving counter-clockwise, in the winter the Indian Ocean gyre reverses direction due to the seasonal winds of the South Asian Monsoon. In the summer, the land is warmer than the ocean, so surface winds blow from the ...
visualisation of ocean currents. The Mozambique Current is an ocean current in the Indian Ocean, usually defined as warm surface waters flowing south along the African east coast in the Mozambique Channel, between Mozambique and the island of Madagascar.
Ocean currents are important in the study of marine debris. [15] [16] Plankton are dispersed by ocean currents. Upwellings and cold ocean water currents flowing from polar and sub-polar regions bring in nutrients that support plankton growth, which are crucial prey items for several key species in marine ecosystems. [17]
The seasonally reversing open ocean currents that pass south of India are referred to as the Winter Monsoon Current and the Summer Monsoon Current (alternately, the Northeast Monsoon Current and the Southwest Monsoon Current). [1] The cold Somali Current, which is strongly linked to the Indian monsoon, is also discussed in this article.
The cold Benguela Current originates from upwelling of water from the cold depths of the Atlantic Ocean against the west coast of the continent. The two currents do not "meet" anywhere along the south coast of Africa. The Agulhas Current (/ ə ˈ ɡ ʌ l ə s /) is the western boundary current of the southwest Indian Ocean.
The current is mainly seasonal, being weaker in winter and stronger in summer, and is affected by the winds in that area. [2] [3] [4]In addition to the West Australian Current flowing on the Western Australian Coast, the Leeuwin Current [5] and Southern Australian Countercurrent, also flow along this coast, with the former flowing in the opposite direction.
The Somali Current is a cold ocean boundary current that runs along the coast of Somalia and Oman in the Western Indian Ocean and is analogous to the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic Ocean. [1] This current is heavily influenced by the monsoons and is the only major upwelling system that occurs on a western boundary of an ocean. The water that is ...
The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering 70,560,000 km 2 (27,240,000 sq mi) or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth's surface. [4]